Frames and supports in 15th and 16th-century Southern Netherlandish painting

ANTWERP, ROYAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS 343 9. Master of 1518, Decollation of St John , c. 1518 (central item of a triptych) Inv. no. 857 Panel: two (?) vertical boards; painted in the frame. The reverse is painted in white lead, like many panels in the Museum. A non-original strip of canvas has been glued to the joint. The joiner has undertaken marking exercises on the reverse: various curves suggest the shape of a curved-sawn panel. Frame: four pieces (the curved-sawn item is a single piece of wood). The various pieces are joined with slotted joints and pegged. The upper joints are mitred at the front and cut square on the reverse. At the bottom, the tenon is on the stile, with the front shoulder angled to the inclined sill. The frame was originally grooved. The back lip of the groove has been subsequently cut back to remove the panel. The black and gold polychromy has been redone. Hinge notches remaining in the left and right stiles tell us that the work belonged to a triptych.